So beat chapter 10/11. I noticed that the game is definitely built around at least some grinding. I got to chapter 11 and enemies were just overall 3-4 levels higher than me with a few promoted enemies to boot. A no death run became annoying, so I beat some paralogue chapters and risen or two then I was fine. Also I started using pair-up a lot more. Allies with poor speed got paired up with candy thief man and suddenly they were powerful.

I ended up with Sumia. Kind of wanted Cordelia, but I guess they didn't fight together enough.

If you're playing on either Normal or Hard, you should have enough resources to manage a core party without any grinding or DLC abuse whatsoever (but it typically involves leaning on Frederick and Chrom early on, promoting at or as close to level 10 as possible, sticking to the same support pairings to maximize your time with A or S-ranked supports, supporting based on the value of the pairing stats contributed rather than on who you want to sleep with, opting to bring less than the full deployment amount later on, and to not to be afraid of using glinting tiles/Barracks loot (unless you think that's too much like grinding)). If you're playing on Lunatic, you're pretty much consigned to having to visit each DLC chapter once, at the very least, or to grind (since enemy skills get ridiculous on Lunatic+).

And sadly, Chrom can't get with Cordelia (not that Severa needs Aether to be ridiculous but Sorcerer Lucina would've been awesome and the only overlap would've been Bow Knight between the Mercenary and Archer class lines).

Nowi x Gaius(Galeforce and I like the C and B supports I saw for this pair)Now to just wait for nearly all the DLC to come out so I can get to work on the getting all support conversations!.....even the redudant ones!

I'm still not finished. I got distracted by the Dread Fighter class, plus my map is full of Risen because I've been ignoring them. So Inigo was kind of weak for me because I matched Gaius with Olivia. I had him as a level 20 Hero, but his defense was very lacking so I switched him over to the Dread Fighter class. It seems that some of the stats have lower caps with this class, most notably skill, but the boost he received in gaining 30 more levels, plus the extra resistance has made him into a pretty good powerhouse. I managed to get most of his stats (all but magic, resistance, and maybe luck though I forget) maxed out. I'm considering whether or not I want to class switch any of my other male units to the Dread Fighter class, but I haven't decided yet.

I'm to chapter 21. I think I may just call it good pretty soon and power my way through the rest of the game.

I made Donnel into my first Dread Fighter since it was either that or Bow Knight for him. He's been everything else so far.

Likewise, I may end up doing the same for Olivia when it comes time for someone to catch the Bride's bouquet.

(And despite how good the design was, I still feel a little jilted by the choice to make Erikia into a Bride. I mean, even a Princess class would've been a throwback to an earlier (in the case of FEIV, a much better) class, just like Dread Fighter was/is.)

And on that note, my next play through of the game will star a male Avatar named Roberts who I will endeavor to reclass into a Dread Fighter and keep him there.

Belated Edit: Then again, having a Bride princess has its own advantages. Too bad, not even the Avatar can get hitched to the DLC characters.

I made Donnel into my first Dread Fighter since it was either that or Bow Knight for him. He's been everything else so far.

Likewise, I may end up doing the same for Olivia when it comes time for someone to catch the Bride's bouquet.

Yea, I decided today to make Donnel a Dread Fighter. Yea...all of his stats are maxed now. He's pretty much invincible.

Anyway, that's it for me. I'm at 70 hours, so no more messing around. I made it to Chapter 24 tonight, and I'm hoping I can finish it tomorrow. I'll do the rest of the DLC when it's available. I'm also thinking that, after I finish Sly 4, I'll start another game in casual mode and I'm going to do minimal side content so I can see how the story holds up without being interrupted for hours on end.

I found the ending to be pretty underwhelming. I chose to have my unit kill Grima, he disappeared afterward, and then all that really happened was every unit in the army (except for the Einherjar) saying they want my unit to come back. A tad disappointing, but I found the story mostly uninteresting anyway. I was happy, as always, to have the "what happened" to such-and-such units. Nothing huge there, but it always has been a nice touch. I even laughed with Kellam's that read something to the extent of "The name of Nowi's husband was forgotten by history." I may play through the final chapter again to see how/if the ending differs if I have Chrom strike the final blow. But for now I'm finished until the next batch of DLC maps are released.Overall I really enjoyed playing it, and developing the units. I'll definitely pick it up again in the not too distant future.

Anyways, I ended up giving the Paragon scroll I picked up from the last Lost Bloodlines chapter to Morgan because he's gonna need it so much more than anybody else (My Avatar would've been choice number 2 but she still has supports to grind out so she can continue to gain levels while doing that, also he has more classes than her). He just needs Veteran now to maximize his experience gains.

Additionally, some more localization changes have come to light. Now we have Shanna instead of Thany (hopefully this doesn't get her confused with Shanan or Shanam) and Raigh instead of Ray (for some reason). Other minor changes include Baldur instead of Baldo (better than Valdo) and Belhalla instead of Barhara (I see what you did there 8-4).

Also chatted it up with Severa versus Linde, Tiki versus Tiki, and Brady versus Racquesis in Lost Bloodlines 3 and had Nah talk with Perceval while Noire talkd with both Wolt during her versus against The Black Knight in Smash Brothers Brethren 1.

And for the latest postgame Paralogue, you're going to want to bring a Rescue Staff or two for a chain transfarriing or somebody sturdy with 12 move to get to the new recruit before she gets horribly murdered again because she'll be hamburger by the second enemy phase. The village gives you one but getting it costs a turn and you're still going to need to bring the designated staff user in range and hopefully out of the way of the Dark Fliers (or take care of them first). So unless you have somebody with ridiculous Mag (hope to god Miriel, Maribelle, or Brady can use staves) you're going to have to rush your Rescue staff user to the front lines.

I'm glad it sold well. I'm just sad that just when I decided to buy the game at Play-Asia, shortly thereafter they changed the game status to "back ordered" and now I'm patiently waiting until they have more.Good thing I have Etrian Odyssey coming but still and I'm not even sure if I should cancel because I payed with paypal instead of my credit card, so I already sent them the money.

So, while I wait, anyone thinks the Fire Emblem for the Wii is worth it? I mean for the story, characters, etc as for gameplay even with the improvements of Awakening it shouldn't be that much different.

So, while I wait, anyone thinks the Fire Emblem for the Wii is worth it? I mean for the story, characters, etc as for gameplay even with the improvements of Awakening it shouldn't be that much different.

The Wii FE has many glaring problems. I've heard some say that they liked the story, and a lot more say they didn't. I personally didn't care for the story. The narrative is separated into four parts and it really breaks up the flow of the story. Characters are pretty weak due to the lack of support conversations. Gameplay is good, but due to the different narratives some of your characters will be horribly behind in experience when the different armies join forces. Also, while you could definitely play it on its own, it is the sequel to Path of Radiance for the GameCube so you may want to start there. Path of Radiance is the better game in almost every way too. I will give Radiant Dawn credit though for having some cool classes that we may never see again.

And for the latest postgame Paralogue, you're going to want to bring a Rescue Staff or two for a chain transfarriing or somebody sturdy with 12 move to get to the new recruit before she gets horribly murdered again because she'll be hamburger by the second enemy phase. The village gives you one but getting it costs a turn and you're still going to need to bring the designated staff user in range and hopefully out of the way of the Dark Fliers (or take care of them first). So unless you have somebody with ridiculous Mag (hope to god Miriel, Maribelle, or Brady can use staves) you're going to have to rush your Rescue staff user to the front lines.

Oh that would have been a strategy. >.> I ended up using one rescue staff to pull her out and then just placed my entire army around her in a defensive formation using a healer to keep her alive from the long range attacker. Meanwhile Donnel took out the entire western forces by himself (armshift+legendary axe=awesome) as the eastern forces got shattered on the rest of my army. Took a couple of tries before I got it down.

So anyone done Em's supports yet? I feel like those have to be extremely akward (especially S rank) considering she seems to have gotten some brain damage from her fall (which is honestly getting off light considering what she apparently survived). Kind of sucks that there are no supports between her and Chrom. Kind of applies to all the spotpass characters actually.

So, while I wait, anyone thinks the Fire Emblem for the Wii is worth it? I mean for the story, characters, etc as for gameplay even with the improvements of Awakening it shouldn't be that much different.

The Wii FE has many glaring problems. I've heard some say that they liked the story, and a lot more say they didn't. I personally didn't care for the story. The narrative is separated into four parts and it really breaks up the flow of the story. Characters are pretty weak due to the lack of support conversations. Gameplay is good, but due to the different narratives some of your characters will be horribly behind in experience when the different armies join forces. Also, while you could definitely play it on its own, it is the sequel to Path of Radiance for the GameCube so you may want to start there. Path of Radiance is the better game in almost every way too. I will give Radiant Dawn credit though for having some cool classes that we may never see again.

Glad to hear Awakening has been such a hit!

Radiant Dawn isn't a bad game per say (Shadow Dragon is far more justifiably considered to be inferior, although I like SD more due to being less constrained in my choices than RD) but it does have some glaring issues of its own. Namely due to the fact that the game splits itself into four different acts, each of which contains its own mostly unique party, and the fact that the game included a whole new batch of characters on top of almost everybody from the previous game, lead to some serious cast bloat. Kinda like how Mystery of the Emblem and its remake introduce the vast majority of best team members within the first four chapters of the game, RD also ended up giving making many of the returning team members from Path of Radiance just so much better than everybody else due to availability, levels, and quality. Worse still, is that the fourth act is when everybody gets into the truck all at once so not only do you have people who've been around for nearly 2 full acts (Nephenee, Ilyana, Captain Haar Solo, Heather) but also people who show up for maybe a single map or two before the endgame (Tormod, Tauroneo, Lucia, among others) as well as people who only pop up just as you're choosing your final 17 to take to the endgame (out of 60 possible choices, 6 of which are taken by required units, one of which goes to one of the three herons, and if you want extra story you're going to lose out on another 3 or so slots, plus at least one or two more if you want a Laguz royal along as a crutch). Long story short, you don't really have much of any choice of party members throughout the entire game since the game's so restrictive on who and what you can bring with you at any given time.

That's not to say that the game's all bad though. It has some of the best map designs since FE5, and almost every one of them is sporting some kind of gimmick or feature (including having the only fully aerial map in the series, one where the game just hands you your lord and the motherfucking Black Knight to stomp everybody's shit with, a map you have to approach from both sides as different armies, and many more). It also has the first instance of skill swapping where you can equip and unequip skills to pass along to the more needy. It also brought back a bunch of other features from older games (namely PoR) including: 3rd tier promotions, weapon forging, rescuing, shoving, & canto, Laguz transformations (except far more manageable due to a greater abundance in transformation restoring items), Bonus EXP (except far more abusable due to the fact that every BEXP level is guaranteed to increase three stats), knives (as a proper weapon type this time instead of garbage), specific map bonuses (including hidden treasure on every map), weapon weight affecting attack speed based upon a user's strength instead of constitution or build, and stealable weapons and staffs (provided your thief has more speed than the target and enough strength to carry whatever has been targeted for purloining).

As for the story, it starts off fairly interesting in the sense that you're playing as the guys who lost the last game's war, then as the guys who won the last game's war, then as Greil's Mercenaries (team Ike) fighting for their furry friends in a brand new war, then as everybody as the shit hits the fan, which is the least interesting part due to how everything else is dropped in favor of saving the day.

And for the latest postgame Paralogue, you're going to want to bring a Rescue Staff or two for a chain transfarriing or somebody sturdy with 12 move to get to the new recruit before she gets horribly murdered again because she'll be hamburger by the second enemy phase. The village gives you one but getting it costs a turn and you're still going to need to bring the designated staff user in range and hopefully out of the way of the Dark Fliers (or take care of them first). So unless you have somebody with ridiculous Mag (hope to god Miriel, Maribelle, or Brady can use staves) you're going to have to rush your Rescue staff user to the front lines.

Oh that would have been a strategy. >.> I ended up using one rescue staff to pull her out and then just placed my entire army around her in a defensive formation using a healer to keep her alive from the long range attacker. Meanwhile Donnel took out the entire western forces by himself (armshift+legendary axe=awesome) as the eastern forces got shattered on the rest of my army. Took a couple of tries before I got it down.

So anyone done Em's supports yet? I feel like those have to be extremely akward (especially S rank) considering she seems to have gotten some brain damage from her fall (which is honestly getting off light considering what she apparently survived). Kind of sucks that there are no supports between her and Chrom. Kind of applies to all the spotpass characters actually.

I have a female Avatar so no Dice here. Of course seeing things like Tiki's supports has me convinced that all she would say to my Avatar would be "Gee. It sucks having amnesia. Don't you agree."

Dual Postin' Double Duel style as I managed to check out the Dual Duels that have been released so far and I've got to say, the prizes they give mostly suck. Granted, I'm one to talk given my handy dandy Silver Card and half a dozen peeps with the Despoil skill learned and equipped. But still, taking on Tharja's lot with my post game team and having Noire lose her ability to double, having iffy hit rates, and getting smacked around by Sorcerers armed with Forseti even when she's equipped with a Superior Jolt tome and has both the Tomebreaker, Prescience, and Skill +2 skills equipped along with capped Skill and Speed as a Dark Flyer for just a Seed of Trust is ridiculous (and Gaius's team handed over a Recover staff despite being the same difficulty level as Tharja's). And yes, the later Double Duels are no joke. Fortunately, you do not burn weapon uses or permanently lose anybody during battle, but you also can't change your equipment or skills without having to back out of the feature entirely. Also some skills wont work as well (namely ones that involve placement).

This also means that the Hauteclere that I got during the Regalia DLC now has a second copy. Also, I wound up missing Owain's Missletainn during his recruitment Paralogue since I didn't have him talk to everybody (just the Sage to the north). The only way to get a replacement now is to obtain it from the Regalia DLC.

You guys might want to watch out for that as his, Laurent's, and Morgan's Paralogue chapters all contain rare items that are difficult to obtain elsewhere, if at all. Owain's item Missiletainn is a decent but not impressive sword that only Owain can wield, is as strong as a Steel Sword with an additional +10 to Crit, and boosts his skill by +1, Laurent's item is the Goddess Staff which is this game Saint's/Latona/Ashera/Matrona Staff (full heal to all in range), and Morgan's is Naga's Tear which is essentially every permanent stat booster all rolled into one item (sans The Boots of course).

I actually really enjoyed Radiant Dawn. The story was forgettable though and some of the plot twists complicates stuff from the previous game. Also there is that huge power imbalance between the parties, pretty much every member of Ikes team is unkillable. But balance kinda goes out the window because of how overpowered the laguz kings are and how bonus exp made it really easy to cap stats and helped bring your underused units up to par(I hope they bring that system back in another game). As for Awakening, I maxed all my supports, I'm done, back to SRW 2ndOG.